Screenwriting : The liberation of failure by Craig D Griffiths

Craig D Griffiths

The liberation of failure

This is some dumb dad advice.  Fail and fail fast. This way you know what to fix. 

It is impossible to push a boundary of you never try to find an edge. Colouring within the lines puts a lot of colour down, but never gives you the opportunity to blend the colours where they meet.

In a nutshell. Just write and fix it to your own tastes later. Then, if you feel the urge add the taste of a potential buyer to make a sale.

People worry about AI because it can follow a formula better than people. I don’t give it a second thought. It has not lived my life or delights in doing what I do to characters. It cannot be me. 

Sorry for the left turn at the end here.

Leonardo Ramirez

Agreed, Craig D Griffiths There's no threat here.

Dan MaxXx

Most of us wont make a living making movies & tv shows. Worry about AI when you have skin the game.

Roberta M Roy

We have skin in the game . . . whether or not our work has been optioned.

Maurice Vaughan

"Fail and fail fast." That reminds me of outlining, Craig D Griffiths. I test out an idea during outline. If I can't figure out the story and/or characters during outlining, I don't work on the script. So, I fail (not being able to figure out the story and/or characters during outlining), but I fail fast (since it doesn't take nearly as much time outlining a script as it does actually writing the script) and move onto the next script. If that makes sense. :D

Sam Sokolow

Strong advice and much appreciated, Craig.

Edward Terry

Sage advice. And true about AI. We can detect AI-written things for exactly that reason - they are formulaic. Originality is only born in the crucible of human experience.

Craig D Griffiths

Thanks everyone. For your thoughts. I know hijacked my own thread with the AI stuff. But it is a thing.

Dan MaxXx time is the greatest skin people can have in any game. Taking time away from life is by far the most expensive thing on earth. When I die, I’ll be buried just like everyone else.

Thanks again everyone.

Maurice Vaughan

You're welcome, Craig D Griffiths. I read a scene that was written by AI, and it was HORRIBLE.

Craig D Griffiths

The problem with AI, not just in writing. Is that AI reads a bunch of words on a topic. Then produces a document.

Most screenplays are crap, mine included. We are not all great writers. So AI uses this mass of bad work to produce work. Therefore it will be garbage like the learning samples.

If they target the great works to improve quality, there would be a great argument for plagiarism. By targeting learning material it shows intent of their or copying.

Also there was a court ruling lately that said AI produced art is not copyright-able. As the instruction are not a unique artistic expression.

Roberta M Roy

Very interesting point, Craig D Griffiths. AI sounds like an unending path downward in script production.

Maurice Vaughan

The worst part of the AI's scene was the dialogue, Craig D Griffiths. So stiff, awkward, and on the nose.

Mark Garbett

Glad my initials aren't AI, Maurice. I'd be a tad insulted ;)

Maurice Vaughan

Haha Mark Garbett. No offense to anyone with AI for initials.

Debbi Mack

There is no AI that can match a creative human's mind. Not yet, anyway.

Marcel Nault Jr.

While the arrival of AI is worrying, I think it's safe to say that it will NEVER be a replacement for screenwriters and storytellers, even though it tries.

On the subject of failure, it's a deep fear that I have. However, I try to counterbalance that with real expectations and solutions. As long as there is a lesson in failure.

Terry Zak

Yeah AI wont ever write a really good script, it can approximate one, but we as the creatives still need to do the heavy lifting.

Craig D Griffiths

As many know I am a data guy. The Governments Chief Data Scientist says all current AI is not much more than complex machine learning as it does not initiate any new or abstract thought.

Intelligence in a nutshell takes to facts to make a third new fact. Combining existing works, no matter how complex, is just copying.

Matthew Anthony Williams

"Just write and fix it to your own tastes later" That is all we ca do, right. Jordan Pelle once said "you can't edit something that doesn't exist", so I agree 100%!

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